TIFF 2007: Everything Announced, Everything To Gain

Out of respect for the funeral of Richard Bradshaw, the Toronto International Film Festival Group chose not to hold their traditional big final press conference in Nathan Phillips Square yesterday, and so with slightly less fanfare than usual we received a massive lump of press releases from the Festival announcing that they’ve announced absolutely everything about the festival there is to announce, pretty much.
So what does that entail? Well, in the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival there will be a grand total of 349 films from 55 countries, with 275 feature/mid-length films. Eighy-five percent are world, international or North American premieres, and 71 are directorial debuts.
Six new Gala presentations have been announced, including Renny Harlin’s Cleaner, starring Samuel L. Jackson; Robin Swicord’s The Jane Austen Book Club; Kenneth Branagh’s Sleuth, starring Michael Caine and Jude Law; and Paul Schrader’s The Walker, starring Woody Harrelson.
Mavericks presentations include Everything to Gain: A Conversation with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, themselves the focus of Jonathan Demme’s documentary Man From Plains, playing as part of Special Presentations. Special Presentations also includes Michael Moore’s Captain Mike Across America, Jason Reitman’s Juno and Brian De Palma’s Redacted.
Two films from Wayne Wang about the experience of Chinese immigrants in the United States, A Thousand Years Of Good Prayers and The Princess Of Nebraska , screen as part of the Masters programme.
Dialogues includes Ken Loach presenting Jiri Menzel’s Closely Watched Trains and Max von Sydow presenting Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring. Reel To Reel has become more musical than ever with the addition of Paul Crowder and Murray Lerner’s Amazing Journey: The Story Of The Who, Julian Schnabel’s Lou Reed’s Berlin, and Grant Gee’s Joy Division. Excellent.
Ticket passes and packages for the Festival are now on sale, with Gala and Visa Screening Room tickets on sale on August 25 at 10 a.m. All other tickets will be sale on Wednesday, September 5 at 7 a.m.